6 Remarkable Drone Photos Competing In The 2024 Siena Drone Photo Awards
Today, we’d like to present you with a list of the finalists for the 2024 Siena Drone Photo Awards. As we read on the contest's website: “Siena Awards is an independent project born from the dream of making Siena and its territory the international capital of photography; a great curator of exclusive events that aim to include and involve great international photographers, amateurs, emerging talents, enthusiasts, and all those who love culture.”
We’re excited to share with you the list of 36 nominees in 7 categories. It’s important to mention there are 2 more categories - Series and Video - that we’d highly recommend you check out on the organizer's website. The winning images will be announced at the Siena Awards ceremony on 28 September 2024.
Scroll down to see the best drone photographs and to read our interview with one of this year's nominees, Ivo Danchev.
More info: sienawards.com | Instagram
6 PHOTOS
#1 “Shepherd With Herd” By Ivo Danchev (Bulgaria)
Bored Panda reached out to Ivo Danchev, a Siena Awards finalist, whose image 'Shepherd with Herd' is nominated in this year’s People category. We wondered what inspired the photographer to capture this particular moment of the shepherd Nikola with his Karakachan sheep, and what message he hoped to convey through this picture. Ivo shared with us: “Back in 2013, I was working for Slow Food magazine in the western Balkan mountains of Serbia, near the border with Bulgaria. My job was to document one of the very last herds of Karakachan sheep and there was Nikola - their shepherd. After having a friendly conversation with him I could tell he had great love and care for his animals. His stories inspired me to make a portrait of him and his herd that captures his relationship and the protection he was for that bunch of brown survivors.”
#2 “What Remains” By Carol Guzy (USA)
#3 “Jiashao Bridge” By Sheng Jiang (China)
Asked how he felt while photographing this scene, the Siena Awards finalist said: “I was charmed by the beauty of my characters, both man and animals and got super excited to be able to look at them and photograph them from above. It was the perfect angle. I wanted the viewers to fall in love with the characters – just as strong as I felt at that very moment.”
#4 “Love From Above” By Joanna Zdancewicz (Poland)
#5 “Minimalist Action” By Alex Berasategi (Azerbaijan)
Next, Ivo told us what he learned about the cultural and historical significance of traditional Karakachan life through his project: “In the past, the Karakachan used to practice transhumance and a semi-nomadic lifestyle. They were migrating from the Egean Sea to the Black Sea following the high mountain pastures so their numerous sheep herds could graze. In the 1960s the communist party decided to take their herds and put them into blocks of flats.
At that time, the military blocked the mountain passes and forced them to obey and give away their animals to slaughter. That was a time of great sorrow and loss of traditional lifestyle. They told me in the beginning they used to sleep on the balconies as the rooms felt like prison. The small brown sheep accommodated in harsh mountains weren’t producing enough milk compared to the lowland breeds and their numbers decreased until, at the beginning of the 21st century, only a few animals were surviving in some remote areas.
Today, after about 20 years of hard work of devoted people like Nikola, there are several new herds and hope that the breed could be saved as part of the world's biodiversity.”
#6 “Tongue” By Daniel Viñé Garcia (Spain)
Keywords: Drone Photos | Photo projects | Drone photo awards | Photography | Photo contest